Thursday, January 29, 2009

Red Sox Top 11 Prospects: From Baseball Prospectus

Future Shock
Red Sox Top 11 Prospects
by Kevin Goldstein



BOSTON RED SOX

Five-Star Prospects
1. Lars Anderson, 1B
2. Michael Bowden, RHP

Four-Star Prospects
3. Josh Reddick, RF
4. Daniel Bard, RHP [side note: Cooch has seen this guy pitching for the Sea Dogs; dude hit 101 on the radar a couple of times and his heat was consistently in the 98-100mph range. However, he had zero control over his breaking balls.]

Three-Star Prospects
5. Ryan Westmoreland, CF
6. Casey Kelly, RHP/SS
7. Michael Almanzar, 3B
8. Nick Hagadone, LHP
9. Junichi Tazawa, RHP
10. Bryan Price, RHP
11. Ryan Kalish, CF

Just Missed: Derek Gibson, SS; Yamaico Navarro, SS; Stolmey Pimentel, RHP

Ranking Challenges:
Anderson was a clear choice to top this list, and Bowden edges in behind him at second by being a touch ahead of the two four-star prospects. There are difficulties with all of the players from there on down, as they have a wide, even array of attributes and faults; youth, upside, and a lack of experience, as well as injuries to players like Westmoreland, Hagadone, and Kalish (and the last still has lingering concerns about wrist surgery he had before the '08 season). Tazawa's circumstances are unusual as well, as he's a Japanese player who is not quite ready for The Show, and has a performance record that is impossible to evaluate accurately. From the fifth spot to the last, it's all about the scouting reports, and based very little on the respective performances.

2 comments:

lavinius said...

Bard had less control than a Tourette's sufferer.

I'm hoping Laaahs makes us forget about not signing Teixeira.

Would you trade Bowden for Teagarden? Tough call...

Anonymous said...

I think I'd sit tight on Bowden for a while.

Can't wait to see Lars; he'll probably see a little bit of time in the bigs this year, but look for him to start in '10!!!!